Table 1.

Australian Refined Diagnosis-Related Group (AR-DRG) codes and their meaning

AR-DRG code	Categorisation and intervention included in AR-DRG code (each category is mutually exclusive)	Average cost of admission ($A)
O60C	This category includes women who had no intervention, or received any of the following: received an induction of labour, augmentation of labour, epidural analgaesia, narcotic pain relief and/or minor perineal trauma	4832
O60B	This category includes women who had any of the following: instrumental vaginal birth with vacuum or forceps, had a postpartum haemorrhage, third-degree or fourth-degree perineal tear, episiotomy or other ‘non-severe’ complications	6423
O01C	This category includes women who had an uncomplicated caesarean section, with or without labour	9811
O01B	This category includes women who had a caesarean section with non-severe complication, possibly associated with a blood loss greater than 750 mL	11 645
P68D	Admission of neonate with minimal complications requiring observation for less than 4 hours	2846

Births are categorised according to the highest level of intervention. For example, a woman who had labour-induced (listed in O60C) but also had a postpartum haemorrhage (listed in O60B) would have the birth categorised as O60B.